


On the Way to Victory Road

by MissTrips



Series: Save and Reset [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Gen, He's Unbeatable because he literally has a save point, Leon was once a Pokemon Protagonist, Video Game Mechanics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:20:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29949891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissTrips/pseuds/MissTrips
Summary: Leon is ten years old and he's got a dream.All ten year olds have dreams.Not all ten year olds can rewrite reality though.
Relationships: Leon & Rose, Leon & Sonia
Series: Save and Reset [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2202720
Comments: 8
Kudos: 12





	On the Way to Victory Road

**Author's Note:**

> I am changing how the Gym Challenge works a little bit. In the competitive season, you only get *one* shot at beating a Gym Leader. If you lose, you're done. It's why in game it's a big thing to get past Motostoke. It's why there's only ten people who eventually make it to Hammerlock and Raihan at *all* and only four people beat him to move on to the finals.
> 
> If Rose comes off as creepy and being manipulative of an idealistic ten year old, then, good. He's supposed to. HOWEVER. And this is a big however. Rose and Leon do not and *NEVER* will have any sort or romantic/sexual relationship in what I write. Rose is not a good person. He's also *not* interested in children. He wants Leon's loyalty, not his love.

Leon was ten years old and he was leaving Mustard's dojo with a Charmander and an endorsement from the former Champion for the upcoming competitive season. Charmander barely squeaked through the vetting process for the Tournament (there were still a small handful of wild Charizard dens near Hammerlocke and the Lake of Outrage, even though the actual sightings were few and far between) however the Kubfu that Mustard had given him was decidedly *not* a legal pokemon in Galar. Mustard offered to let the little cub stay on the Isle, it had clung to Leon and cried and Leon promised it he'd be back after and they'd have more adventures on the Isle of Armor.

Anyways. He was ten, he'd spent a week home with his family telling his mother and his grandparents about his plans and convinced Sonia (his very best friend since forever) that she should ask her Gran for an endorsement since her Gran was a Pokemon Professor and they could be rivals together on a journey!

Sonia had hit him for being 'a stupid boy', but her Gran had listened to Leon's speech with a thoughtful look in her eye and then agreed, giving Sonia a Yamper from their family's breeding stock. And then gave both of them a Rotom powered pokedex and five pokeballs to 'start them out with'.

Leon had excitedly challenged Sonia for their first official match and after a brief tussle, Charmander came out on top, though the little Fire type was needing a trip to the PokeCenter to get rid of a paralysis condition. Leon checked his pokedex to see what information it had gathered on Sonia's Yamper and frowned.

There was an extra menu button that he'd never seen before on the pictures of pokedexes that he'd seen in Sonia's Gran's laboratory.

It said.... Save.

When he clicked on it, it brought up a little screen with the time, the fact that he was in Wedgehurst, a picture of his Charmander, his pokedex count and time played? He looked around and hesitantly tapped on the button to Save and...

Leon didn't have a word to describe it. It was like a full body shiver, a flash behind his eyes and the feeling that he was being looked at really really hard by something much bigger and scarier than himself. And then it was over and the Nurse Jenny was handing his Charmander over with a smile and a "Here you go, she's a cutie! Good luck with the Tournament, Leon."

Leon spent the rest of the day roaming around Route One, tramping around the grass and fighting the mon that were available there and eventually catching a Rookidee that had a keen look in her eyes. It was starting to get late though and with a guilty start he realized that he'd promised to be home before now to help with dinner, since he and Sonia were headed to Motostoke in the morning. He looked down at the Pokedex, seeing the little clock that said he'd been out for hours.

And under the Save button... there was another one.

Reset.

He bit at his lip, and wondered what that would do. Erase all the data he'd already collected? Should he check? Maybe if he said he'd just gotten lost, and not spent all that time battling pokemon, his mother wouldn't be too unhappy with him? He pressed the button.

Nurse Jenny smiled and handed him his Charmander. "Here you go, she's a cutie! Good luck with the Tournament, Leon."

The sun was shining just past noon. He had five pokeballs and no Rookidee.

It took him three wrong turns to get home and his mother was out on the lawn setting up the grill. She looked over and smiled at him, "You're home early, Leon. Would you help me set the table?"

"Mum, could you look... look at this?" He held up the Rotom to her and she gave it a cursory glance and ruffled his hair. "Did you say thank you to Professor Magnolia for that? Having your own Pokedex is a nice gift."

"No, Mum. I mean, look at this? Isn't that weird?" He pointed at the Save and Reset buttons to the side. Her eyes seemed to slide past them though. "Right there Mum. The Save?"

"Leon, dear. Are you alright?" His mum looked at him now concerned, her eyes looking him up and down. "You look a bit upset sweetie. I know you're excited about trying the competition but are you sure you're ready?"

Leon panicked and hit Reset.

"Here you go, she's a cutie! Good luck with the Tournament, Leon."

He Reset three more times, until he was sure that no, no one else could See those buttons. Not even Professor Magnolia, though she smiled and said that the RotomDex had everything he needed.

He Reset that conversation away.

Then he went back to Route One and looked for that Rookidee again. Once he'd caught her, Leon tapped Save and went home. Then he Reset and ended up right back at Route One, with a brand new Rookidee in his bag. He stayed up half the night, trying different things. Writing a note and putting it in his pocket. Changing his clothes. Holding a sip of water in his mouth.

Every time he hit Reset, everything went back exactly how it was except that he remembered it all. By the time he was walking to the train station in Wedgehurst with his mother the next morning he'd managed to figure out the basics. There was only one Save. Every time he tapped it, he'd get that shivery feeling and if he tapped Reset he was sent back to that point. No one else could see it, not even the Rotom tucked into the Dex. Whatever this was, it was his and his alone.

Leon poked and worried at the fact that he was somehow now a time-traveler. A very *limited* one to be sure, but still. He could undo whole days if he wanted to. Do them all over again. Maybe if he never touched the Save again, he could redo whole *years*. That was a lot to try and wrap his brain around, and it made him sufficiently distracted enough that Sonia reached over to poke him hard in the shoulder.

"Whatever you're thinking about, just stop. You're making my brain ache with all the brow furrowing you're doing. We're not even at the Opening Ceremony yet, that's *tomorrow* and you're already acting way too serious." She gave him a cross look. "We're in a whole new city, one of the biggest in all of Galar and you're sitting on the floor staring at the wall being all..." Sonia waved her hands to suggest her disgust at him. "We should go out! And look at all the shops and cafes! I won't let you get lost."

"I...." Leon hesitated and then decided to leap and ask her. If the conversation went bad he'd last Saved before leaving home and redoing the goodbye's with his and Sonia's mum and the train trip up to Motostoke wouldn't be that awful of a time. "Sonia, if you could travel in time, backwards. But only to one point. Like a... a save in a game, would you use it?"

Sonia gave him a long look and then rolled her eyes. "Boys. We're about to take on the whole Galar League. The Majors. The best of the best of gym challenges and you want to talk about if I could time travel so I'd always win, if I'd do it? Yes. Duh," she punched him on the shoulder. "Who wouldn't?"

Leon gave a short laugh. "Right. Sorry for asking."

He Reset.

It was better if Sonia had no memory of him asking that. Instead, after they got to Motostoke (again) they handed over their endorsements, got their numbers (and Leon let Sonia rib him for being so daring as to pick the number 1 for his jersey) and then he let her drag them all over Motostoke seeing the shops and getting into a fight at a café (how fun was that!) and in all, it was a great day. Just before bed he paused, looked at his Rotom and tapped Save.

He missed Kubfu already, the little mon had liked curling up with him on his bed, tussling with Charmander to claim Leon's extra pillow. But as much as he wanted his friend with him, the rules meant that Kubfu couldn't be here, exploring all new Wild Areas, maybe getting strong enough to be part of the Challenge team. But, Leon couldn't keep wishing for it, even if he had time powers, it didn't change the laws.

Leon buried his face in his knees for a long moment and then let out an exhale. "It'll be good anyways. It's what I wanted, I wanted this. It'll be great."

The opening ceremony was everything that the telly had painted it up to be, Motostoke was the second oldest gym in Galar (Hammerlocke's ancient coliseum was the oldest gym *anywhere*) and the giant brick structure was currently home to the current Champion and the Steel gym. There were just over one hundred people who had gotten endorsements this year but most of them were far older than Leon and Sonia, there were only ten people under the age of fourteen. Thousands of people were in the stands, chanting and yelling and cheering on their favorite gyms as the leaders were announced with the biggest screams for Peony, the Steel Champion.

Leon smiled and waved at all the people, and his face even showed up on the big screen for a moment, with his name even. Alright, they were showing everybody's face and name, but still! The euphoria of the Opening ceremonies wiped away the lingering regret of leaving the Isle. It would be great!

The first gym in Turffield was a hurdle in that it was the first. No one had lost yet, everyone had to have a chance to compete. The gym leader there had a rotation of Grass type mon and there were up to five matches a day. Leon and Sonia took three days just to walk there, Leon catching a Budew to add to his team for the upcoming Water gym, and training up both Charmander and Rookiedee for the first competition. He and Sonia ended up being split on the day of their fight, Sonia went first after a three day wait, but Leon still had two extra days before his slot opened up. He made a Save after her win though, the two of them celebrating her getting a badge, then they ran around Route Four to add an Eevee to her team. 

He used his last day before his turn in the gym to train, both Charmander and Rookidee evolved to his delight. Leon made a Save that night. He had both Fire and Flying on his team, he'd learned how to battle from Mustard himself. This was going to be fine. He was ready.

He had to resist the urge to Save before entering the stadium. After. He'd Save after.

Corvisquire handled the trainer challenges and the first of the two mon the gym leader threw. Once the Oddish fell though, he threw in Charmeleon to meet the Bellossom. The Gym leader's eyes widened and she gave a laugh. "Well, that's not another Growlithe! Come show me your bite!" It took only two moves, the Bellossom hanging in from the first hit and firing Acid back, but the second Fire Fang finished it off.

A little past the first week of the Tournament, and Leon and Sonia had both cleared the first hurdle. They walked together across the massive bridge that was the link between Route Five and Hullbury, but once they reached the tunnel entrance that lead to the town proper, Leon hesitated. "I think I want to camp out tonight." He told Sonia. "Go on ahead, I'll see you in the morning?"

"And if you get lost?" She asked archly and he flushed.

"Well, it's either the tunnel or the bridge, so even I will know if I'm going the wrong way. Just feel like I need a little more training, not like you with your zappy dog there, ready to run right over Gym two."

Sonia gave him another look and then sighed. "Fine, but I'll be at the PokeCenter at noon tomorrow, so you better be there or I'm calling your Mum to tell her you got lost."

"Promise. And we can look at the shops too before heading into the stadium." He set up camp and once the sun started going down and the number of travelers had thinned out to next to no one, he let his team out.

Corvisquire promptly flapped up into a tree to preen and look around and Charmeleon found a nice flat rock to flop on to soak up some heat from the day's sun, which left his attention on his most recent addition, the Budew. He know that they wouldn't evolve unless they trusted and liked their trainers, and Leon knew he only had maybe a week to get there. He could delay a little bit, after all, the first few gyms had so many people to schedule matches for. But the longer he delayed, the less time he'd have at the end to fine tune a team for the hardest fights. The tournament ended three months after it began after all. Having trainers rise to the challenge of a limited time frame was part of the difficulty of the Cup.

There was still a bit of an ache of not having Kubfu to see all this, but it was a smaller hurt now. It was probably up on the dojo roof right now, watching the sun go down, so in a way, they were both watching the same thing. That made him feel better.

The next day Leon was only a little bit late. It was almost two pm by the time he got to the PokeCenter. But Sonia wasn't there either and he chewed at his lip and wondered about Resetting, but no. He didn't think he'd be any faster trying to get here and now that he was out of the tunnel, he could try and call her. Sonia answered after a few rings.

"So, you lost?"

"As a matter of fact... no. I made it."

"Huh. I think I lost a bet then. Stay there, I'll be there soonish."

Leon spent a few minutes chatting with people in the PokeCenter and having his team looked at before Sonia arrived, with a girl in tow who had the bluest eyes Leon had ever seen. "You really did make it. Leon, this is my new best friend, Nessa." The girl gave him a shy smile and a wave.

"New best friend? What about me?" he gave her a hurt look.

"Still my idiot rival of course," Leon let out a relieved breath at that. "Nessa family fishes here, she knows where all the pokemon like to hide. You know, good places for training against water types?" Sonia grinned at him. "And plus, she's got awesome fashion! The shops here are mad wicked."

Leon looked at Nessa in her overall shorts and bright shirt and Sonia and her blue and yellow painted fingernails and decided to not say a thing. The possibility of getting some training in for his Budew was a lot more important than failing at any conversation that involved colour theory. Pokemon theories were where it was at anyways.

It took nearly a week of training and camping to get Budew to evolve and while at first Leon was a bit leery of having Nessa along with them, she really did know loads about the pokemon in Hullbury and even took them out on her family's boat for a trip to see some of the bigger mon that lived offshore. Sonia again ended up challenging the gym before him, and he wasn't surprised that she won, her Yamper after all was a very well-bred mon. He was a little surprised that it hadn't evolved yet, but Sonia shrugged and "When he's ready he will," was all she had to say on that.

Then it was Leon's turn to fight.

Leon hadn't known that the Gym leader's Baraskewda knew *Peck*. His Roselia had gotten off a poison though before the second Peck finished them off and suddenly he was down to his Corvisquire and Charmeleon. Corvisquire came out and Leon ordered a Pluck, but with the rain falling in the stadium the Baraskewda outsped her and critted, leaving him down to one... and a Charmeleon in the rain was easy pickings.

Leon lost.

Leon Reset.

And then he panicked a little because he'd Saved only hours before he was due to fight. He had to think, he had to... to figure this out. He was going to lose the Roselia, he knew it. If he'd been able to evolve it into a Roserade, maybe it would have been able to withstand more attacks... but if they could live one hit and get Stun Spore off instead of a poison... so his Corivsquire could hit *first*. He sorted through his bags and handed her a Sharp Beak. The more damage she could do was the better off they were if the Barraskewda critted her again. Then he gave his Roselia a Quick Claw (the Grass mon had to go first or it wasn't going to work at all) and took Charmeleon to the PokeCenter to have her learn Dragon Breath.

It worked. Even with his Corvisquire getting critted *again*, this time it worked! And hearing the crowd go wild as Charmeleon roared out deep purple flames and getting the final blow in?

That was amazing. Charmeleon flung her head back and gave a wild victory cry to match his own.

He insisted on treating Sonia and Nessa to dinner that night. It was fun, the food was incredible and Nessa traded a Feebass to Sonia for her Eevee and it evolved right on the spot into a Milotic.

"Nessa! You... this is too much!"

"Nah, Sonia. This is Hulbury, and my family knows where to get loads of the little primadonnas. You're two gyms down, now too. I bet you and her will get along *swimmingly*."

Leon groaned at the pun and threw a breadstick at Nessa. She stuck her tongue back out at him. "And now you can keep that hot headed lizard of his smartly in check. Lightning and Water working together?" The two girls grinned at each other and Leon felt a shiver of dread roll down his spine because yeah. Charizard would evenutally dual type into *Flying*. They'd be bullied forever by Sonia and Nessa. He groaned and pulled his cap down over his face, but there was no amount of Saves in the world to rescue him from this, he knew.

They spent one more day in Hulbury before heading south, Leon quietly Saved and resolved not to feel guilty at all anymore about it. Sonia did tell him that if she'd had the ability, she'd have used it. Of course, she'd also won her first two fights, and Leon had lost once. But it wasn't like he could change it now. Even if he Reset, he was already past the gym. And it's not like Resetting just handed him the win. He still had to make it happen himself. He just.... had an extra go.

And if he wasn't supposed to have it well... then it never would have shown up. Instead he asked Sonia to help him find a Shiny Stone to evolve his Roselia which pleased her to no end becasue it meant loads of shopping to find such an odd item.

The easiest way back to Motostoke was through one of Galar's old mines. It was considered a good training ground, full of Water and Rock pokemon and Leon was keen on adding some form of Rock to his team for the upcoming Flying gym in Stow on Side. Once in the mines though, he discovered it was a really twisty turny place. After getting utterly turned around a third time, Sonia grabbed his hand and declared herself the leader. "Come on. We're not getting out of here following you. There some train tracks over there, we're going to follow them."

Leon sighed when after a few hours of walking, the tunnels opened up into what looked like a construction site, where several people were moving about. Sonia'd never let him hear the end of it. There were even wild mon lurking about on the fringes and she pointed them out to him. "Have a go at one of them and don't get lost again!" Leon ducked her punch at him and headed that way, pausing to have a quick battle with one of the workers.

Leon spotted a likely Drednaw that could work on the team when he stumbled on what sounded like an argument. The two men looked almost identical, except one was in a suit and mining helmet and the other... was Champion Peony! He'd recognize the Steel uniform anywhere.

"You don't understand! I am thinking of the future!"

"The future? What about everyone here and now Rose?"

"They will be a part of what makes it become reality!"

Leon blushed a bit as he realized he was eavesdropping on arguing adults and that wasn't something he wanted to get in the middle of, especially since one of them was the Champion himself. He turned and came face to face with a surprised little Noibat who let out a teeny squeak and Leon reflexively he threw out Charmeleon to fight. One frantic battle and thrown Duskball later, the little dragonet was secure and...

Both men were standing there watching him.

"Um..." he flicked his eyes between them. He really hoped they didn't want to battle, he really wasn't ready to fight Peony yet! And what if they wanted a doubles? Leon would just die on the spot.

The man in the suit smiled, looking at the Challenger band sitting on Leon's wrist. "Well, don't mind us young man. You're on your way to Motostoke? Or Training for Hullbury?"

"Motostoke." Leon said quickly, flicking a glance at the Champion.

"How grand! Two badges down and with such a unique pokemon! I don't think I've seen a Charizard line in competition for years! What a clever young man you are. But where are my manners! I'm Rose, and this is my brother Peony."

"Thank you, sir," Leon replied. "I didn't mean to bother you, my name's Leon... from Postwick."

"And so polite!" The man's smile grew and he gave Champion Peony a tap on his arm. "I know you're probably itching to face off against my brother here! You'll get a sneak peek at his team in Motostoke, though with that Charmeleon I think you might even beat him!" Rose laughed and Leon flushed a little.

Champion Peony didn't laugh, but he did give Leon a smile. "As my brother said, don't mind us. I'll see you in Motostoke soon enough."

"Oh Peony, chasing him off already? I didn't even get to ask if he'd give me a copy of his League card. You will, won't you?"

Leon's flush was now a full on blush, but he pulled out a copy of his card that he'd had reprinted in Hullbury, showing off his current team and Rose looked it over. "Ah a Corvisquire? It's nice to see people using good Galarian pokemon. Peony, stop glaring and give the lad one of yours too! Leon? Thank you very much. I think I'll look forward to your upcoming match. You don't mind if I cheer for you?"

Leon thanked Rose and the Champion again and scuttled back to Sonia. He wondered if he should Reset... but.... he'd been given the Champion's card. Champion Peony's brother even asked Leon for one of his! And that he'd cheer *for* Leon.

Leon Saved.

The Steel gym's mission was fun. There were Stunfisks to dodge while Meowths and Mawhiles leapt out, snapping their teeth at unwary trainers and Charmeleon happily bit back, easily trouncing her way through the preliminary as Leon caught enough of the Steel types to pass the challenge. He released them back to the gym after, even though the referee said he could keep them if he wanted to, but none of them felt like a good fit for his team.

Champion Peony... or rather Steel Gym Leader Peony... was waiting for Leon in the stadium. He repressed the urge to Save... this time... this time he'd win or lose on his own merit. He'd trained Charmeleon for this, he had to win, to prove that he could do this. If only to himself.

This was his test.

Objectively Leon knew that Peony was going to be using a team that was tuned for the third gym in the challenge and not the mon on his Champion team. But it really *felt* like this was a preview of the real final match. This was going to be all his Charmeleon's show. She was so close to evolving, getting through this gym might be the last push she needed to become a Charizard. He'd given her a bit of charcoal this time, to let her fires burn hotter.

The first mon Peony threw was a Honedge. It went for a Sword's Dance, but Charmeleon's Flamethrower took it deep down in health and she was faster.

Then out came a Bronzong. It managed to get a good hit in on her, but her second hit took it down just as neatly as she'd done the first time. She was still above half health... provided there wasn't a crit.... Leon should *win*.

The crowd was electric, chanting to the music being piped into the arena floor as the Copperajah landed with a bellowing cry, one matched by Leon's Charmelon, brimming with fight and on the verge of evolution. Leon had heard about people being so angry or excited that they would see red and he thought he was at that point. Then as both pokemon shrieked *again*, Leon realized that he was literally seeing a red haze.

Dynamax energy.

It was no secret that both Motostoke and Hammerlock's stadiums were built on sites that had periodic eruptions of energy, in fact that had been the entire point of building them there. Because sometimes it leaked and pokemon in battle would soak up the energy and dynamax. It was somewhat controversial, since there was no telling when a fight might suddenly get flooded with dynamax energy, and part of why Galar's League carried different rules from other regions. The crowd erupted into cheers though as barriers snapped up in response to the dynamaxing pokemon.

They were both reacting, flaring bright with light, but even as the Copperajah settled into their new size with a redoubled roar, Leon's Charmeleon *screamed*.

And she *evolved*. Wings ripping out of her as she grew, horns splitting and she shrieked and clawed at the air as her new form settled around her, wreathed in flames.

She had gigantimaxed.

The Copperajah never stood a chance against her incredible wildfire attack. It took several minutes just to calm her down after the victory before the power of the dynamax faded and she struck a triumphant pose and caroled her victory cry out to the ecstatic stands. Leon flung his arms around her neck in a hug, she was so much bigger than him now he had to stretch. They had done it!

Peony was waiting to shake his hand and Leon beamed happily at him. "Well, that was one of the best matches I've had in a while young man."

"I'll see you at the Finals!" Leon burst out, his eyes shining and Peony chuckled, running his free hand through his short hair.

"Well... I look forward to them then."

Outside the gym, people were cheering and asking for pictures and at first it was fun, but then suddenly there were a *lot* of people. All wanting for him to look their way and he wanted to ask them to maybe back up a little? Give him some room? And then there was a soft hand on his shoulder and smiling green eyes and Rose was there. And people backed off enough that he could breathe.

"Congratulations, Leon. That fight was one of the best I've seen. I'm glad I decided to cheer for you."

Somehow Rose managed the crowd with a few words and the next set of pictures taken were less blinding and Leon found himself unable to argue his way out of staying at Rose's hotel in Motostoke. (He owned hotels! Lots of them!) "It's called the Budew Drop Inn and you have a Roserade. And I'm Rose." Leon found it easy to laugh at the naming similarities because Rose made it seem funny and like it was a special joke between them and then they were there and the front desk staff were giving him a key of his own and it was a really huge set of rooms with a massive view and all the service he could want.

Rose left him there, giving him a neat little pin that Leon could put in his hat. It looked a bit like a rose and when Leon pointed that out, Rose looked at him proudly. "You're smart to see that so quickly. Yes, it's my company's symbol. Wear it and any of my hotels will put you up for the rest of the challenge." And then the man gave him one last shoulder pat, like a fond uncle and left, saying that he had to meet his brother for dinner.

Leon looked around the suddenly empty save for him room and tried to take it all in. He'd... really done all that. Fought Champion Peony and won. People had cheered for him.

His rotom chirped at Leon and he looked and saw a *lot* of messages on it, most from people he didn't even know. He bit at his lip and pulled the rotom to him. There were messages from Sonia. Sonia! He'd forgotten all about her in the wild aftermath of his fight. He should call her. Maybe even invite her up, to help fill all this empty space. She'd love it. And there were so many rooms, she could have one all to herself and he could have one and let his whole team out with room to spare. Yes. He'd do that.

Leon Saved.

Getting past Motostoke and the Steel Gym meant that there were suddenly a lot fewer people that Leon was competing against for a battle slot. From the just over 100 people who'd started the challenge, fewer than 50 remained. Sonia was one of them, but when he met her outside the stadium two days after his victory, she looked more shaken than victorious. "It was hard. It was really hard, Leon."

"But you did it," he told her, giving her a thumbs up and a grin. "You earned your badge."

She gave him a watery smile. "I... yeah. I did."

"And it's Flying next and you and Yamper will crush that gym, just like you did at Hulbury! I'm the one that needs to scour the Wild Area a bit to find an advantage."

Sonia scoffed a little and thumped him on the shoulder, which was a sign of her feeling better. "What? You and that unbeatable Charizard of yours? Needing more on your team?"

"I don't know about *unbeatable*," Leon hedged a little. The loss he'd Reset during the second gym came to mind. Even if no one else remembered it, he did.

"Didn't you look at the recap program? That's what they're calling your Charizard after that whole dynamaxing episode in your fight."

"Not really? I mean yesterday I mostly just slept while you were out." And he'd been scouring possible moves to teach his team, playing tag with the Noibat in the ridiculously oversized bedroom and generally trying to not think too much about all the messages that kept popping up on his Rotom. He'd answered the ones from his mother, and one from Master Mustard (who had even included Kubfu in the video!). He wasn't sure what to do about the rest, he didn't know any of those people. "But I do want to camp out in the Wild Area for a bit, not just take a train up to Hammerlocke. I mean, I can't get that lost, right? I just have to go looking for the massive city with the dragons all over it."

She sighed at him. "You are going to get so lost. And that's how you won't win the Tournament. Challenger Leon. Lost in the Dusty Bowl, no one's seen him since June." Leon was tempted to challenge her to a fight then and there for that crack, but her team had earned a night of rest after fighting Champion Peony's test.

They spent two weeks travelling through the Wild Area and the rate of messages slowly tapered off on Leon's rotom. Sonia found a Toxel along the way and while Leon was peering around a set of old henges, a determined little Pancham barreled on up to him and attacked. A Fighting type wasn't what he was looking for, but the little bear mon reminded him so much of Kubfu that perhaps they'd be friends once the competition was over, now that Charizard had grown from fellow playmate to a fully evolved mon.

Fully evolved and loving to fly. Leon spent hours airborne with her, his Noibat and Corvisquire tagging along in the draft of her wings. Seeing Galar spread out from below was amazing, and from this height he could easily see Hammerlocke, no chance of getting lost at all!

Once inside Hammerlocke though, that was a completely different story. Leon latched onto Sonia as she dragged him around to multiple shops. Leon surreptitiously dropped a Save before they entered the Battle Café, and he was glad that he did. That little Alcremie was horribly tough! One Reset later Leon resolved to coming back later though to practice fighting, he needed to learn anti-Fairy strategy. As the day grew long, Leon pulled off his hat, looked at the little pin that Rose had given him and then chewed at his lip a little. Rose had said it was okay to stay at one of his hotels and they were far nicer than the travel lodges that were available for gym challengers (and even though he liked camping, a big bed and hot shower felt really good).

Sonia had given him a dubious look when he asked her to help him find the hotel and Leon was ready to press the Reset if this all went embarrassing but the hotel staff took one look at the pin and just like that, he and Sonia were in another set of super nice rooms with a tub so big Sonia probably could let her Milotic out to swim in it. She didn't, but it made the two days that they'd agreed to spend in Hammerlocke before heading up towards Stow on Side very restful.

Just before they left Hammerlocke, Leon found a wandering trader selling Stone Edge. It took almost all the money he'd earned, but teaching it to the little Pancham might be the key he needed to win the fourth gym. If he gave the little Fighting cub the Quick Claw, it would outspeed the dangerous Flying mon to land a super effective move on *them*. He dropped a Save just before though, in case it didn't work out and he needed a new strategy. Redoing a few days, maybe a week tops, wouldn't be that bad.

The Gym in Stow-on-Side was not nearly as fun as Motostoke. Instead of making his way through tall grass, hunting pokemon to earn enough points to proceed, this was a *maze*. And Leon couldn't even walk, no, there was a spinny carriage that whizzed him about left and right and he had no idea where he was at any time. He'd needed to have a bit of a sit down after clearing the maze, just to get his stomach to stop doing flips inside of him. As a result, he wasn't nearly on top of his game coming in to face the Flying Gym leader and his Pancham went down to their Hawlucha. But the thought of Resetting and having to do that maze all over again made him want to cry, so Leon dug his heels in and brought out Charizard.

The crowd went wild when she slammed the hard hitting Hawlucha with a Dragon Breath and the Leader's final mon was a Corviknight. The big bird gave an unnerving look to Charizard, but it wasn't enough to make her falter and lower her attack like an intimidate would. Her first strike did a fair chunk of damage to the Corviknight and it responded with a Brave Bird, slamming into her so hard, Leon thought for a moment she'd fainted from that critical hit. But like Leon, she dug in and held on, and the recoil damage the Corviknight took was enough that her next blast of fire put the Flying Leader's Ace down.

After, Leon sat down in the locker room, tucked his uniform away and put his head between his knees to try and stop the still lingering sensations of spinning. He felt awful and really wanted to lie down, but the bench was for lots of people to use, not just him. He didn't know how long he sat there, but eventually he realized there was a thin arm around his shoulder and Sonia's head leaned against his.

"Hey," he said weakly.

"Hey yourself. You okay, Lee? You don't look good."

"It was all the spinning. You know me and directions? I couldn't figure out anything in there, it was all just spinning and bumping and eventually I made my way through."

Sonia helped him to the local traveler's lodge (Rose didn't have a nice hotel in Stow on Side sadly) and curled up with him on the bed while his brain tried to unscramble itself. She didn't tell him until the next day that she had lost her attempt at the Gym. The Hawlucha that had given Leon a hard time had known Dig, and wiped out both her Yamper and Toxtricity. With just her Milotic left, she hadn't been able to score a victory.

Leon Reset.

The second try at the Gym was just as bad as the first. But this time as they'd walked along Route Six, Leon had pointed out the Digletts and how if you caught them trying to Dig, you had enough time to switch out mon and he and Sonia practiced fighting Digletts and to both their surprise, her Yamper seemed to pick up on the concept and started Digging too. But this time, this time when Leon was dizzy and feeling horrible in the locker room and Sonia put her arm around him in commiseration, it was with her having secured the fourth badge as well, so only one of them was miserable. He Saved the next morning and followed Sonia through the local market looking for deals and the two of them pair battled some reporters who wanted to interview Leon.

If the Flying Gym of Stow-on-Side was the worst that Leon's innately bad sense of direction had ever struck him, then Glimwood Tangle was the opposite. It was almost like the Weald, an area where trying to get somewhere would just get you all turned around. Instead you just kept in mind where you wanted to end up, let your feet just go and eventually you'd get there. Leon and Sonia spent one whole afternoon under the dark canopy watching a group of Shiinotic dance in a circle, with little Moreluls weaving in and around the bigger Fairies.

Afterwards, Sonia went hunting Sinesteas, looking for one with an authentic stamp on its china so she could send it to her Gran. "Are you going to catch yourself anything here Leon?" She asked after tucking the newly caught Ghost into her bag. He gave a shrug.

"I think after this gym I'd like to head back to Turfield and catch an Eevee. Evolve it into a Sylveon. That'd be a full team of six then. What about you? I mean your Toxtricity is good for this gym, but you might want more for the last three."

"Mmm. I was thinking a Hatterene, actually. We just haven't come across any yet. Maybe I'll head back to Motostoke, there were Hattenas to the east of the city."

Leon bit down on the urge to remind her that Hatterenes would be vulnerable in Spikemuth, they still had to make it through Ballonlea and Circhester first. Leon felt pretty good about this upcoming gym, he'd taught Charizard Steel Wing from the gift TM he'd received in Motostoke, and his Roserade was in great condition. He gave his Noibat a skritch under his chin. "Don't worry, even if these next two gyms aren't good for you, we'll let you have some fun in Spikemuth." As they exited the Glimwood, Leon made a Save before they went to check into the Gym itself.

There were 37 challengers left in the Tournament. The League member at the check in desk looked over her schedule and slotted Leon into a Saturday afternoon match, coming up in three days, and Sonia would get a slot on the next Monday. With fewer matches to hold, the Gyms could afford to stretch them out now, filling up time since there was still a month and a half of time before the Championships, and challengers would be spending more time between each gym training their teams for the next one.

"You know, it's a lot like being at home again," Leon said to Sonia as they left the gym. She gave him a quizzical look. "I mean, Ballonlea is a lot like Wedgehurst. The anchor town for lots of littler towns like Postwick."

"So is Turffield," Sonia pointed out.

"Yeah, but Turffield isn't *weird*. Ballonlea has the Glimwood and we have the Weald. Towns are more..." he flapped a hand trying to find the words he wanted to convey. "Towns like Postwick and Wedgehurst are where the wildness stops."

Sonia made a little huh and then nudged him. "Aren't you getting all smarty pants, Mr. I Have an Unbeatable Charizard?"

He groaned and shoved her back a little. "Quit it with that, or it might stick!"

Sonia laughed at him and punched his shoulder back.

The Ballonlea Gym was fun, the challenge part had a series of trainer battles, but it was staged like a play. Leon had been given a little script to read through before hand and if he got the words all correct, then his battling pokemon would get buffed.

He might have hammed it up a little but Roserade got into it, flinging flower petals everywhere as he drained the opposing Fairies with his poison attacks. At the end though, facing off against Gym Leader Opal, he switched out to Charizard to take the victory. She gave him a very keen look as they shook hands at the end of the match. 

"You're not a very pink sort of person. You've a bit more purple to you I think. But nothing wrong with purple." She cackled like she'd just said a very funny joke. "Savor the win, my dear, but don't dwell on it too much. Looking back and repeating yourself doesn't help you move forward after all."

Leon wondered. Did... did she *know*? Or was she just being a old Gran giving out wisdom like a bit of hard butterscotch candy? There were more people waiting outside the gym after he'd changed and left, asking for a copy of his League card to autograph, or to take a photo and could he bring out his Charizard too?

It was close to half an hour before he managed to beg off and convince people that he needed to take his team to the PokeCenter to be checked over. As the local Nurse Jenny was working on the team, Leon went ahead and Saved, relieved to be done for the day. Five badges down!

Three gyms left before the finals. Circhester, which had been Ice now for almost thirty years, Spikemuth, recently switched back to Dark after being Ghost for the previous five years and Hammerlocke.

The only Gym that never changed type because Hammerlocke was the home of Dragons since forever. Way before there were Pokemon Leagues and Cups, back when Galar still had Kings and Queens and not Champions, Hammerlocke had been where the Dragons were. So even though it was the oldest and grandest of all the Gyms, unless the Champion was also aligned with the Dragon Gym, the Champion resided in Motostoke.

There was apparently a lot more to it, but most of the debate tended to go right over Leon's head. One person outside of Ballonlea's gym however had asked Leon what Gym would he pick to represent if he won the Championship? And Leon hadn't ever thought about that until then. Most people competing got their endorsement from the Gym that they trained at of course. But Leon's endorsement came from Master Mustard, who used to be Fighting, but he'd retired. He had the right to give an endorsement because he was a former Champion, but Leon, like Sonia, was one of the few competitors who wasn't an active Gym member.

With Charizard, Noibat and Corivsquire (and she was getting really close to being ready to evolve, by Circhester for certain) half of his team was Flying, but he thought back to the horrible experience he'd had in Stow-on-Side and gave a shudder.

No... Flying didn't feel right. Charizard was Fire really and his Noibat had a tempermental personality that was pure Dragon. Leon found a little park with Chinchou floating about and he smiled an took a photo and sent it to Sonia with a text of [[Look, more electrics for you!]]

[[Are you lost?]] Sonia texted back.

Leon scoffed a bit and looked around and realized that maybe he was a little, but he could see the curve of the road that lead towards the downtown area of Ballonlea. he took a photo of that and sent it. [[No! See, there's the road right there!]]

[[Stay there.]] Sonia texted back and Leon shrugged. He didn't feel lost and he'd have all afternoon to find his way back into the town but Sonia was bossy about being in charge of knowing where he was, ever since they were little. She arrived after a bit and looked around, he waved to her. After getting a worried scolding (and a shoulder punch) Sonia agreed that the Chinchou were neat, and caught one.

"Sonia of Wedgehurst, the Electric Champion," Leon held his fingers up like her was framing her in a photo. "You better let me have one of your first Championship cards."

"For that, I'm going to make you carry all my bags," Sonia declared.

"No way. Your bag probably has cooties. And no one wants to catch *that*."

It quickly devolved into a shoving match, which turned into an impromptu pokemon duel. Leon won, mostly becasue his Noibat was really itching for a fight and his Wing Attacks landed with blistering, flinch inducing speed.

The next morning over breakfast Leon looked over at Sonia. "I'm going to go fly back down to Turffield today. I want a Sylveon for my last team member. I'll be back though in time for your match."

"You better!" Sonia replied. "I need my personal bag boy after all."

Flying with Charizard was still just as amazing, even with the newness of her full evolution wearing off. It made travelling so easy, there wasn't anything between them and their destination to get turned around from and Charizard caught the wind and soared. Finding Turffield wasn't even that hard from the air, they only had to get a little close and the giant chalk drawings were dead easy to home in on.

Just before Leon went down into the Route he made a quick Save. Just in case he did get lost. After having spent most of the day in search of an Eevee, he Reset himself twice, until an hour into his third search, he finally found and caught one. Corvisquire evolved during the hunt, shaking out huge, glossy black wings with a pleased caw. With the new Eevee in hand Leon looked around the Route and found a little area a bit off on it's own, but with a good view of anyone walking along.

It looked like a really good spot to maybe camp, introduce Eevee to the team, work on getting its trust and letting everyone out to romp around outside. As much as he liked camping with Sonia, there were times when he liked being alone and maybe just a *little* bit lost. If Kubfu had been with him, the night would have been perfect. He sent a message to Mustard, asking him to give the little mon a hug and reminder that Leon was still thinking of him.

Sonia lost.

Leon was in shock. Sure her team wasn't as diversified as his, but he knew how well they could set up paralyzes and flinches to keep command of a battle, she was his rival and he'd been at the mercy of her Yamper and its teeth more than once during their trek through Galar. But Gym Leader Opal's Mimikyu and Mawhile kept control of the fight and Sonia had never even gotten to Opal's ace.

He bit at his lip and tried to think. He'd Saved that morning. He'd done it to make sure that he'd make it to the match on time, and he'd Reset once when he'd had difficulty over the Glimwood and Charizard had landed with a huff and a growl on a giant tree and complained at him because they'd somehow missed the town of Ballonlea. The second time he'd also let Corviknight and Noibat out to fly with them and the big raven mon had kept Leon from veering too far off course and they'd arrived an hour before Sonia's match.

So he would have an hour. An hour to try and fix this. He needed to make a plan. Give Sonia some sort of tip or help or maybe loan her some of the TRs he'd been collecting...

There was a light touch on his shoulder that startled him out of his thoughts. One of the Gym trainers that had been part of the acting challenge was standing there, a small smile on her face. "Challenger Leon? Leader Opal would like to talk with you."

Leon didn't really want to talk to Opal, he wanted time to think, but the woman was standing there expectantly and brushing her off and walking away would be rude. To her and to the entire Gym here.

Opal was putting her pokemon into the Gym's private medical scanner when the trainer showed Leon in. "Ah, thank you Teresa. On your marks as always my dear. Have a seat young man."

There was a small, low couch and a very overstuffed chair in deep purple tucked up by a Galarian style tea service. He was half expecting to see a sinestea or a polteageist lurking among the china, but every cup was unhaunted. He perched on the sofa, feet just barely touching the floor. Opal set her last pokeball into the scanner with a click and turned and made her way over to the purple chair.

"What did you want to see me about?" Leon asked cautiously. Their match was over days ago and he wanted to find Sonia, to hug her and tell her everything would be okay. He'd figure it out.

Opal sat down and folded long thin fingers together over her knee. Her gaze was piercing and he wanted to squirm.

"I was just curious, if you intended to change anything."

Leon froze in shock, breath stuck in his throat. "I don't..." his fingers clenched around his jacket and his mind scrambled trying to come up with anything to say before he remembered it wouldn't matter. He was going to Reset. This conversation wouldn't happen a second time. He licked his lips and the tightness loosened in his chest. "What does it matter if I do?"

"They're already calling you Unbeatable," Opal said, her hands still neatly resting over her knee, but she might as well have raised one in an accusatory point.

"I beat you *first* go," he shot back, because he *had*.

Opal smiled and while it looked like a polite ladies smile, there was a feeling of *teeth* underneath. The shiver that hit his spine was a lot like the one he got if he wandered too close to the Weald gate or when he Saved. "But if you hadn't, the only one that would know... is you."

"What do you *want*?"

"The question stands, do you intend to change anything? Your friend's loss?" Opal's voice was curious and calm and Leon couldn't shake the feeling of teeth. "She's quite a good young lady. Smart. But she never should have made it to me."

"She earned her wins!" He may have helped her prepare, but Sonia had fought the battles herself.

"She also earned her loss."

Leon didn't want to hear any more. He pulled out his Rotom and Reset. The world shuddered and he was back at his campsite outside of Turffield. Everything was packed and Charizard was snuffling at the remnants of the fire and how could Leader Opal say that? Leon crouched down and wrapped his arms around his knees and tried not to cry.

He didn’t succeed.

Sonia had *said* that if she could Reset, she would. That anyone would do it, but when Leader Opal had looked at him like she'd known he done it and changed things...

It wasn't *cheating*. It wasn't. The Save had shown up on his Rotomdex all on its own. He'd still had to win the Water badge, even if he'd been better prepared the second time. Sonia had *won* the Flying badge, more confident in switching her team in battle so that the Dig had been ineffective against her Milotic and not devastating to her Toxtricity.

Leon was crying in earnest now, upset and confused at the way Opal had somehow known. There was a croon and a nudge against his head as Charizard looked worriedly at him and Leon threw his arms around her neck, seeking comfort in her warm, smooth hide. It took time to cry himself out and he scrubbed at his face. He'd have to Reset again, if he was going to make it back to Ballonlea in time.

Leon arrived forty five minutes before Sonia's match and realized with a start that she was already in the Gym, doing the preliminary fights.

Leon Reset.

He missed her again.

Leon Reset.

He barely caught her before she was going in and didn't have any time to do anything other than shove some leftovers at her to give to her mon.

Leon Reset.

This time as they were flying, he carefully tried to type out some help to her in a text.

[[Stop fussing! You're making me all worried, Lee! I'm turning off the phone now, be there in the stands and don't get lost!]]

Leon Reset.

Opal sat down and folded long thin fingers together over her knee. Her gaze was piercing and he knew there were teeth underneath her smile.

"I was just curious, if you intended to change anything."

"I couldn't." The words dragged out of him and it hurt. He looked at the old woman and expected to see disappointment or judgement or maybe she'd tell him he was disqualified. Instead the smile seemed more pleased, like when his mother's Purrloin had just gotten a full bowl of cream.

"Then you've learned the first lesson."

"What's the second one?"

"That one day... you won't have it anymore."

Leon's eyes grew wide as the implication sank in. "You?"

"I was almost sixteen. And my favorite pocket watch suddenly became a chronograph." The teeth behind her smile faded, and the fingers laced across her knee felt more like a pose and less a judgement.

"And no one else could see it?"

"Well, this is Ballonlea. We're used to having things that aren't entirely seen. For three years I could rewind little bits of time here and there. And then one day, I had an ordinary pocket watch again."

Leon pulled out his Rotomdex and looked at it. "So... so I only have three years?" Three years was a long long time...

"No idea!" Leader Opal smiled and there was a flash of *teeth* again. "The only other person that I knew who had it was the last Dragon Champion. Little scamp never should have beaten me, but he did and I could feel the time bending around him. It was only for the one season, then it was gone. But oh, what a fire cracker he was, I should have married him even if he was fifteen years younger than me. So who knows how long it will be for you to use."

Leader Opal wasn't... she wasn't going to... "You're not going to tell me to stop?"

The old woman let out a long cackling laugh. "Oh my! Oh, there just is no pink in you, is there? Go on, shoo. Make mischief. Console your friend. I might have been a little rough on her."

Leon scampered out and after five minutes of trying to find his way to where the lockers were, he sighed and pulled out his rotom and started typing. [[Sonia. Trying to find you. I'm in a room full of costumes.]] He dutifully took a picture and sent it along as well. It was a few minutes before she replied with her usual terse,

[[Stay there]]

Leon waited until a gym trainer appeared, he was pretty sure it was the same woman who'd shown him to Opal's office, though when she dropped him off at the front of the Gym and he said, "Thank you, Miss Teresa," she'd laughed and said her name was Annette. He spent a moment being embarrassed, but then Sonia was there, her face scrubbed red and hair damp from a shower and he tackled her in a hug.

"I'm okay," she said quietly. "It's okay. I... think I did as best as I could, Lee."

It wasn't okay. But they got ice cream and went back to the park where Sonia had caught the Chinchou and called up Nessa and by the time it was the dark of night instead of just the dark of the woods, Sonia was curled up against Leon's side with her Yamper in her lap and they all agreed never to talk about all the crying they'd done together.

"I think... I think I'm going to go home for a bit, Lee." Sonia told him. "I want to see Gran. I'll come with you down to Hammerlocke and make sure you get on the right Route though. So no getting lost on your way to Circhester, okay? I'll come see you in the finals though. So you'd better be there."

Leon felt an ache inside, that she wasn't going to keep going with him but... he couldn't ask her to come. That'd be selfish of him. He was ten after all, he could make it to CIrchester, especially with Charizard and Corviknight to help steer him.

Leon Saved.

Some things weren't changeable. He knew that now.

It was official. If there was a town worse than Circhester anywhere in the world, Leon never ever wanted to go there. The roads kept circling, all the buildings looked the same and he was pretty sure he'd passed the big steaming pools *four* times and he still hadn't found the Pokecenter. To top it off, it hadn't stopped snowing for a single minute and all his mon were in their balls and none of them wanted to come out at all and he couldn't blame them one bit. At least there had been a man selling hot cheese toasties which had curbed the growing hunger in his belly. He'd also tried to point Leon the right way to the Pokecenter but the turn right at Bob's Your Uncle had left him lost again.

He was honestly considering Resetting even though the last time he'd Saved was after seeing Sonia off on the train at Hammerlocke. Then he remembered why it had taken him six whole days to get through Route Eight and at least he was *in* Circhester now. He made another right hand turn and sighed at the gracefully curving, snow dusted street full of packed buildings that looked All The Same. Maybe he should ask for some more directions. Maybe the Pokecenter was just past that one street with the building on the corner with the interlocking shaped sign...

Leon blinked and looked again, hope rising. He was pretty sure that was Mr. Rose's symbol and he took off his hat to check the pin and yes, it was. He could go and stay at the hotel if they had a room, and then in the morning, he could maybe get a taxi to the Pokecenter and to the Stadium! Leon was very sure that asking for a taxi when leaving a hotel was totally a normal thing to do and not something that only people who always got lost needed.

With that happy thought in mind, Leon's pace picked up and he headed for the building. Stepping through the doors was bliss, the warm entryway hitting him like a heavy blanket. He showed off the little pin he'd been given and the woman behind the desk smiled. "Of course, Challenger Leon. Mr. Rose has left standing instructions that we accommodate you. If you'd like to sit down and wait, we'll check to see what's available for you, and let Mr. Rose know you're here."

"Oh! You don't have to trouble him, really!" Leon waved his hands and looked embarrassed. "I don't want to be a bother!"

"It's not a bother. Mr. Rose is in the city today," the woman said and Leon sat down in the offered chair, blushing. He'd just been hoping for a room, to get warm and maybe let his pokemon out for the evening to relax after the multiple days getting lost in the old ruins and fighting the mon that jumped out of crevices at every turn. But the long days had paid off in that Leon's Eevee had evolved into a Sylveon and his Noibat was getting more confident and Leon had the idea to let the little dragon take the lead position for the Ice Gym, getting the battle experience might be enough to help push it to evolve. With Charizard as back up, Leon was fairly confident of his team.

It was a really comfortable chair that they'd given him. Loads of cushions and big enough that he could just curl up and sleep right there, and Leon was in the process of nodding off when the lady at the desk came around and cleared her throat. "Challenger Leon? Mr. Rose has asked if you could eat dinner with him? He's having a service sent up to his suite and he's happy to meet with you and share a meal."

That jerked him awake and he sat up. "Oh! Oh, um, that's super nice of him..." and Leon looked down at his travel stained clothes and bit his lip. "I'm... kind of grubby.... can I have a chance to change and wash up?" He might have grown up on a woolooo farm, but that just meant that washing up before eating was rigorously enforced by him mum.

"I'm sure you’ll have enough time to change," she said and then gestured to the lift. She got in with him and pulled out a key and put it into a slot on the panel with the floor buttons and twisted it, causing the top most button to light up. "The lift will go straight up, and Mr. Rose will be expecting you." She stepped out and the lift closed before Leon caught up with what she'd said. He'd meant to get changed and clean before meeting Mr. Rose!

The lift zipped up quickly and opened up with a soft ding and wow. This wasn't a hallway. This was an *entryway*. There were big glass doors, one of them standing open and peeking through, Leon could see a massive room that was easily twice the size of even the huge rooms he'd stayed in before. He thought it might take up the entire floor of the hotel. Rose was standing at the windows on the far side, talking to a Rotomphone, though he was looking Leon’s way and gave him a welcoming wave.

“I’ll call you back. Send me the data on the reactor’s stability in the morning. And find me something to convince Hammerlocke with, it’s the perfect site for the main plant.” He hung up and gave Leon a smile. “Truth be told, I wasn’t expecting you to come to Circhester until the weekend, but I must say, I’m glad to be able to host you, Leon.”

“You’ve been really super about this, Mr. Rose,” Leon hastily answered. “I’m sorry that I’m kind of grubby, I tried to ask to get clean first.”

“I started out as a miner, Leon. A little dirt isn’t going to scare me, or hurt the carpets. But there’s a suite for guests you can use and just put anything dirty into the hamper, the staff will have it cleaned for you.” He showed Leon to the rooms, just as big and lavish as the other’s that Leon had slept in and he had a feeling that Rose’s own rooms here were even *bigger*. But one scalding hot shower later, Leon picked out the least smelly shirt that wasn’t his uniform to wear for dinner and went out to rejoin Rose in the main rooms. He was definitely ready for food!

There was a lot of food to pick from too, soup and greens and a rice dish that looked a bit thick with cheese, which struck Leon as odd, but he was hungry enough to try a bit of everything. Rose struck up a conversation after a few minutes and it led quickly to the Champion Cup.

"The problem with getting the League to consider new rules," Rose said, gesturing with his fork, "Is that the Champion is first and foremost, aligned with their Gym."

Leon blinked at the statement. "Because Gyms are where most of the endorsements come from? There's not many other people who are qualified to give an endorsement." Leon knew that the several big trainer schools would give endorsements to the top students in their graduating classes, the top ten finalists of the Minor League Cup also got an automatic endorsement to the Majors and then a handful of noted people, like Mustard and Sonia's Gran could give an endorsement. Everyone else though belonged to a Gym.

"Exactly right." Rose gave him a pleased smile. "That's something I'd like to change. You're from Postwick, and the nearest Gym is..."

"Wedgehurst. It's a Minor League one though."

"Currently home to Ground if I recall?" Rose waited for Leon to confirm that and took a bite of his salad so Leon dutifully nodded in agreement ate a bit more of the rice, though it was far more bland than what his mum or Mustard cooked. "But what I am trying to propose is that the Gyms accept applicants for their endorsements from everyone in the area that the Gym serves, not just trainers that officially belong to them. However conceding that much authority to the League and the League Chairman is highly resisted..." Rose paused and must have noticed Leon gamely trying to keep up with what the man was saying (he was using an awful lot of big words) "I mean they aren't willing to give endorsements to people not already a member of their gym."

"And you want more people to be strong trainers?"

"That's what Champion Mustard taught you?" Rose asked, sitting back and looking at Leon.

"Yes! Everyone should try to be the best that they can be! And the Champion Cup is supposed to encourage that!"

"However if you'd been endorsed by your local Gym instead, you'd be expected to be a Ground Trainer. And if you were Champion, you'd be expected to vote the way the Ground Gym wanted you to."

Leon frowned, trying to figure out what that meant and Rose continued, "What I mean, is that so long as the Champion is a Gym Leader, or member of a Gym, then they'll always back what the Gyms want, instead of progressing forwards. There's so much more that could be done, but not as long as the Gyms refuse to change. I'm a little surprised that you haven't been asked to join a Gym officially yet, what with you having five badges won."

Leon tried not to fiddle with his fork and bit his lip. "I got asked that by a reporter, they wanted to know if I was thinking about officially being Flying type but..." he wrinkled his nose, remembering just how awful an experience that Gym had been. He didn't want to try that maze ever again. "Master Mustard taught us that we should use a team that was right for us. I don't want to be just *one* type."

"There is no rule that says a Champion has to belong to a gym you know. I've been trying to put together a proposal for a stadium in Wyndon, to make that the official home of the Champion and the Finals, separate from the Gyms. Sadly, I haven't been able to convince Peony to sign off on the move, or to back me as the next Chairman." Rose shook his head and smiled. "But I shouldn't keep you up talking about all my problems, Leon. You've got enough already to do, getting ready for your next badge and I look forward to watching the fight."

Leon beamed at Rose and finished the meal before yawning and shyly telling Rose that he was going to turn in for the night. He stopped long enough to brush his teeth and check over his clothes. Most of his bag went into the hamper save for his uniform. Leon supposed he could wear that tomorrow when he went to check into the Gym and go and get his pokemon fixed up. He curled up in the bed and thought a little about what Rose had talked about. The Champion didn't just go around and make sure that people were okay and encourage them to be brilliant trainers... they also voted on things about the League. He hadn’t known that.

He wondered for a moment that if he became Champion... when he became Champion... if he could have the League vote to let him bring Kubfu into Galar. Adding one pokemon to the allowed list wasn't being too greedy, and Mustard said that the only place that even had Kubfu was the Isle of Armor, so it was practically a Galar native already! Leon fell asleep with the pleasant thoughts of having his whole team together.

Standing in an invisible maze of ice, Leon really really really hated Circhester. Even with the wands he held warning him that there was something bad in front of him, all that meant was Leon would end up spinning around and end up back where he started from. Maybe he wasn't dizzy-sick like Stow-on-Side, but by the time he finally managed to get clear, he was so frustrated and angry that he didn't even *bother* with the initial plan of setting up the fight with his Noibat to bait out attacks that his speedy little dragon would U-turn out of and let another team mate soak up. He just sent out Charizard and let her sweep the gym leader, including taking a big hit from the bulky Lapras. Charizard dug in and tanked the blast of water and responded with her Flamethrower, taking the big dual typed mon out in two hits.

Leon changed out of his uniform after and looked at his bag. The hotel staff had done a bang up job, cleaning his clothes for him the day before and they'd even given him a tag to put on the bag with the hotel's symbol on it and his name on the other side in case he wanted to leave it with them while exploring the city. Not that he did, he wanted to leave right away and head out of the cold and weird round streets and buildings that looked all the same. Spikemuth he knew was on the coastline, so if he just flew south, he should be there in no time. First he needed to get Charizard to the Pokecenter, but there should be a taxi...

There were reporters. A lot of them. And loads of people all waving at him. One of the reporters shoved a microphone right at him. "Challenger Leon! With six badges under your belt now, you're a favorite for the upcoming finals, have you picked what gym you're going to represent?"

Something snapped a bit inside of Leon. He stood up as tall as he could make himself and stared the reporter dead in the eyes. "I'm not going to be a Gym's Champion. I'm going to be Galar's Champion. I'll represent *everyone*, no matter what kind of pokemon they use!"

He let those words carry him forward out to the taxi stand. Leon was going to leave this place as soon as possible, but he remembered to type out a quick thank you to Rose on his Rotom before he pressed Save. Staying with the older man had been the one bright spot of the city and Rose had given him a lot to think about.

Circhester had been an icy town, with a bitter cold that lingered under Leon’s skin the way some of the worst winter days in Postwick did. But Spikemuth was a different sort of cold, where the winds off the bay would sneak in around a building here and there to steal his breath away and the only reason he wasn’t soaked to the bone was because the city had big shaded glass panels up everywhere, blocking the rain, dimming the sun and snatching away even more heat. The buildings were crammed tight together and the streets narrow to the point of claustrophobia. If there ever was a town that was throwing up a giant sign that said *go away*, then Spikemuth had one in massive neon letters.

The sign actually said something *else* but Leon wasn’t supposed to say those words.

But Leon really really liked those neon signs and crammed tight streets. He couldn’t get turned around because everyone walked in the same direction and the signs were bright, they had big arrows pointing the way they wanted people to go and following the one that said Gym actually got him to the right place. It was amazing.

“You’re so much nicer than Circhester,” he blurted out to the woman at the admissions desk with bright colored hair and lots of spiky bits on her wrists and neck. She gave him an odd searching look and the Mr. Mime standing next to her spun around in a dramatic circle and fell over.

“Go on,” The woman’s voice was amused and she leaned her chin into her hand.

“I mean it. Circhester is awful. Half their signs are covered in snow. You lit your signs up. Second favorite town.”

“And the first?”

“Postwick of course!”

“Never heard of it,” she drawled and gave the Mr. Mime a kick to make it stand back up.

“You will! Because I’m going to be Champion!” 

She was nice, in that she didn’t laugh at him. But he thought she might have wanted to, and the Mr. Mime was doing some knee slaps. But she pulled out a ledger and signed him in for the Gym, and there were only three people ahead of him on the schedule (and he was now only the eighth person to even make it to Spikemuth) so his slot to face off against the Dark Leader was five days away. With so few challengers left, the Gyms rarely did more than one match a day, in the early evenings when people would be at home to watch.

Leon dutifully wrote down the time he was supposed to come back and after looking in at the lodge that competitors were supposed to stay at, he instead slipped back out of the town and flew to the nearby Wild Area, where he could see the spires of Hammerlocke and camp out. He had a few ideas for the Gym, and with his Noibat now evolved into a Noivern, he thought he had a good strategy. Noivern would lead off, use a super effective U-Turn which with the dragon’s natural speed should routinely go off first. Meaning that he would safely escape and bring in Leon’s Sylveon to finish off the opponent with a Draining Kiss. Unless there was a poison secondary and then well, his Corviknight would be the play… now he just had to set up Charizard to take on the Leader’s Ace.

Leon knew that he should use his Sylveon against a Hydreigon, that was the smart decision. But every gym so far, he’d always ended the match with his Charizard. He sorted through his TMs and TRs twice.

It was the smart thing to use Sylveon.

He knew it.

But people by now expected Charizard. She was his Ace. The one that wowed everyone by Gigantimaxing in Motostoke.

The Gym Leader he knew would have at least one Dark move and one Dragon move. But that left two moves. What if one was Water? Or worse *Rock*?

He fretted over it, thought about calling Mustard. But this was supposed to be his Challenge. He was supposed to be able to figure it out.

If he made a mistake, he could undo it.

But he wanted to get it right the first time.

Leon spent the rest of his time before his match flying around the Wild Area looking for Dark type mon to fight, refining his strategies and the evening before his fight, he made a Save.

Just… Just in case.

Leon devastated the Gym. Between his Noivern and Sylveon, none of the trainers in his way even whittled his Fairy to even half her health before she topped herself back up and while the Hydreigon wasn’t any sort of pushover, Charizard shouldered the hits and roared back with her own Dragon moves to secure the win.

“For someone that just rioted their way through my crew, you don’t look very happy.”

Leon looked up from where he was sitting on the locker room bench, fiddling with one of his shoes and trying to come up with the energy to put it on.

“I’m happy,” he blurted out. “I am! I just thought…” Leon’s mouth clicked shut and his cheeks colored as he realized he was about to say that he’d thought it was going to be harder.

The Dark Leader smiled like they knew what Leon hadn’t said and he cringed a little.

“You know, three people dropped out this week between Circhester and my front door? They got all the way here, took one at my city and decided to quit. Spikemuth alone will wash out 25% of who’s left before they ever face me.” The Leader reached out and tapped Leon dead in the middle of his forehead. “They beat themselves.”

“I like Spikemuth,” Leon blurted out. Sure it was gray and cramped and cold and a lot of things that weren’t really very nice, but he hadn’t gotten lost once.

Leon really loved those bright signs with the big arrows.

The Dark Leader laughed at him, not meanly, but like Leon had said a funny joke (and Leon had meant it!). They picked up his cap and turned it about in their hands, taking a long look at the pin that Rose had given him before setting the cap on his head. “Well, we’ll see if you like us later on down the line then.”

Leon couldn’t think of a reason why he wouldn’t keep liking Spikemuth, but then adults tended to say things like you’ll change your mind or when you’re older you’ll think differently. 

He was ten, he was pretty sure he’d figured out what he liked and didn’t by now.

Leon studied his calendar as he left Spikemuth. According to the dates, he had sixteen days left before the finals started in Motostoke. Which meant he probably shouldn’t spend more than a week to get ready for the Dragon Gym.

Dragons and Doubles. The final hurdle of Hammerlocke. The ancient Gym was also notorious for dynamax energy, there was a really good chance that it would flare up, responding to the energetic battles that took place on the pitch.

He wished that Sonia was still with him, so that they could practice together. But she was still back at home and he didn’t want to make her think that he was upset that she hadn’t managed to continue the Challenge because he wanted a rival to fight and hone his skills with. So he sent her some funny photos he’d taken of Charizard and Roserade flatly refusing to even consider partnering with each other, the picky Grass mon stalking away in a huff as Charizard blew a curl of fire and just barely missing it.

The Poison mon would be good for an opening set up of Toxic Spikes, maybe paired with Sylveon putting up a Reflect? Possibly even a Stun Spore before switching out to one of his sturdier mon.

Sonia sent him back a picture of her, her Gran and his family waving and all saying good luck.

[[We’re cheering for you! See you at the finals!]]

Leon made his way to Hammerlocke after four days in the Wild Area and discovered on checking in that only two people had gotten here before him. Both of them had failed to get past the Dragon Leader. That didn’t seem quite right to him and he checked his Rotom. Sure enough, six people including him had all gotten past Spikemuth by now, and there were still 5 people who hadn’t yet tried for their seventh gym yet.

People beat themselves.

Leon swallowed as he remembered the Dark Leader’s words to him. That sometimes people just… gave up. He licked his lips a little and then looked at the man running the desk.

“I’m ready. For whenever the next available slot is.”

That evening he walked out of the tunnel into the ancient coliseum, looked at the cheering crowd and lifted his hand to wave to them.

He wasn’t going to give up.

He was going to win.

Win everything.

Then he’d help push Galar forward, so that people would believe that they should fight to be the best that they could be. As strong as they could be. To not give up.

To be able to use a team and mon that suited them, not what other people thought they should have. (The gap at his side where Kubfu should have been was still there.)

//For three years I could rewind little bits of time here and there. And then one day, I had an ordinary pocket watch again.// Opal had warned him.

He didn’t know how much time he had. But he was going to use every last second and more.


End file.
